Parents of Libyan woman who claimed rape tell TV she’s held hostage at Gadhafi’s compound

Source: AP Via Washington Post

By Associated Press, Monday, March 28, 9:27 AM

CAIRO — Parents of a Libyan woman who claimed she was detained by Moammar Gadhafi’s troops and later gang raped said in interviews aired Monday that their daughter is being held hostage at the Libyan leader’s compound in Tripoli.

=snip=

In interviews broadcast Monday on satellite Al-Jazeera Television, al-Obeidi’s parents countered government claims that their daughter had been set free after the hotel incident and was now with a sister in the Libyan capital. They also countered allegations of a government spokesman who had said she is a prostitute.

The parents said al-Obeidi is a lawyer and that she is now being held at Gadhafi’s compound in Bab Al-Aziziya in the capital. It’s unclear where the parents spoke from and Al-Jazeera did not provide their names. The Associated Press only identifies rape victims who volunteer their names.

“I don’t feel ashamed, instead my head is up high,” the mother told Al-Jazeera, saying her daughter “broke the barrier that no other man could break” by coming forward about her rape.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/parents-of-libyan-woman-who-claimed-rape-tell-tv-shes-held-hostage-at-gadhafis-compound/2011/03/27/AFrikOkB_story.html

---

THOROUGH INVESTIGATION URGED OVER LIBYA RAPE CASE

28 March 2011

The Libyan authorities must thoroughly investigate the case of a woman who said she had been raped by forces loyal to Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, Amnesty International said today.

“Iman al-Obeidi’s allegations are stomach-churning. The Libyan authorities must immediately launch an independent and impartial investigation and bring those responsible to justice if the allegations are well-founded,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director

“It is extremely disturbing that Iman al-Obeidi was forcibly dragged away by Libyan security officials when she tried to speak to journalists. The authorities must say where she is now and guarantee her safety and well-being. If she is being detained, she should be released immediately."

"The Libyan authorities have a long record of silencing those who dare speak out against human rights violations. It is all the more worrying that they did not hesitate to do this, using heavy-handed methods, despite the presence of the international media."

Full article: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/thorough-investigation-urged-over-libya-rape-case-2011-03-28

Original OP on this: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4788098">Libyan woman (pleads for reporters to help her & is) dragged from press by Gaddafi forces (Pic Heavy)

Video reports of the incident in the hotel collated in this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x567036

The report gives updates on Sirte and Misrata, then reports on Eman al-Obeidi, including the interview with her mother:

Watch on YouTube...
Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught on the latests from Libya (5:28)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lutDYuTKuYw&feature=player_embedded#at=224

...or at AJE (10:20pm timestamp):
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-march-28#update-20441


K&R :fistbump:

Reports floated out about how premature babies were yanked from incubators...due to the Evil Saddam and how many Women his Sons Raped and Tortured.

Just saying...this sounds horrific...but it could also be a wonderful disinformation campaign by the War Mongers who work and work...with Cheney/Rummy in the background wanting to make sure that America doesn't forget that we are Spreading Democracy throughout the Middle East ...so that their lousy policy that's almost bankrupted us (along with Wall Street Bailout) keeps their Legacy ALIVE...and keeps History Books from remembering them as "American Terrorists" who RAPED THEIR OWN PEOPLE!

I get shivers thinking about CNN's Wolf Blitzer who made his CNN Career off Poppy Bush's War against Saddam during the Kuwait Invasion way back. Blitzer would yell "RAPING OF WOMEN...SODOMIZING OF CHILDREN into a Bull Horn on CNN if it helped his Career!

So...I'm very jaded in what our "So-Called Media" ever report since those days as having any truth..and more likely being from our Pentagon PSY OPS/DISINFO UNIT. :-(

for war against Ghaddafi. I have my strong suspicion of this whole thing. It sound too much like the story you just pointed to. A convenient method of demonizing the opponent.

Sacrificing herself to Gaddafi's security forces in order to garner support for the coalition?

Plenty of time to have watched those videos.

Care to back up your specious claims?

Look at the video, and stop this.

Tragic. Qhaddafi (sp) is swine. And that insults swine.

Her mother reports in an interview that the regime told her by phone that if she makes her daughter change her story she will be released and the family will receive money and a house.

It's clear that she is still being held by the Libyan government.

I tend to believe her parents over the Gaddafi lie machine, and will continue to until she is seen on camera again.

scratches and scrapes, was bleeding, was a horrific scene at the hotel. Did not sound like a fake to me

(New York) - The Libyan government should immediately release Eman al-‘Obeidy, the Libyan woman who accused government forces of raping her last week in Tripoli, and allow her family and international media to confirm independently that she is free and safe, Human Rights Watch today.

The government should promptly investigate the charges of rape that al-‘Obeidy raised and hold accountable anyone who violated the law, Human Rights Watch said.

The Libyan government said it had released al-‘Obeidy, but her parents denied the claim. International media have not seen her since security forces forcefully removed her from a Tripoli hotel on March 26, 2011.

"The last time al-‘Obeidy was seen, she was bruised and recounting a horrible account of rape, then was snatched from journalists by security forces," said Nadya Khalife, women's rights researcher for the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch. "The government needs to produce her, free her, find out what happened, and prosecute anyone who violated the law."

Full article: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/03/28/libya-immediately-release-woman-who-alleged-rape